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Lady Cats fight but fall short in the first round of RPAC

By Christy SheetsSports Writer The Wallace Wildcats competed in the RPAC Conference on Monday, Oct. 15 in Paxton. Their first opponent was the Broncos of Wauneta-Palisade. This match was a battle from the start, neither team wanting to relinquish the lead. Unfortunately for the Cats, the Broncos won the match in four sets, 19-25, 27-25, 23-25, and 16-25. In the first set, the Broncos were tough, and the Cats seemed to be battling nerves, as the set went back and forth with neither team allowing the other to really dominate. The Cats were methodical, and slowly started to settle down, but the Broncos began to build a lead. The Broncos were able to close the first set 19 to 25. In the second set, the Broncos started out with the early lead. The Wildcats clawed their way back into the set, and started to build confidence and momentum. The Wildcats took the set 27 to 25. In the third both teams were ready for battle, but the Broncos worked hard to regain their momentum from the first set. The Broncos seemed to dominate the set, and had the lead 23 to 14, but the Lady Cats started to rally. The Lady Cats took turns pounding the ball to the court and refusing to let the ball fall on their side. The Cats managed to score nine unanswered points, but the Broncos scored one to bring the set to 23 to 24. The Cats unfortunately in their excitement, touched the net, and the Broncos won the set 23 to 25. In the fourth set the Lady Cats seemed deflated. After working so hard and falling just short in the third set, the Lady Cats seemed to struggle to stay focused. They would make some amazing plays, and then they would fall short. The Broncos dominated the court, as a tired Lady Cats team slowly conceded the set. The match came to a close with the Broncos leading 16 to 25. Leading the team offensively against the Broncos was freshman Abbey Rohde (two aces) with 11 points, followed closely by senior Anna Griffiths with nine points (two aces). Junior Alexandria Lundvall had eight points (two aces), Junior Sara Hubbard had seven points (one ace), senior Chelsea Sowle (one ace) had three points, and sophomore Christina Daniels had two points. Leading the team with set assists was Griffiths with 16, followed by Lundvall with 10, Daniels with four, Melton with two, and senior Rachel Marquardt and Sowle each with one. Defensively, Daniels led the team with 11 kills and eight blocks, followed by Sowle with nine kills and two blocks. Rohde had seven kills, Hubbard had two kills, Melton had one kill and one block, sophomore Mickayla Sheets had one kill, and Marquardt had one block. When asked about the match, Coach Strand said, “We played really well at times, but we just couldn’t put a whole game together.”Next Action The Lady Cats face the Broncos of Wauneta Palisade at home on Tuesday, Oct. 23. Results will appear in next week’s issue.